


Rain

by Eul (orphan_account)



Series: Land of Gods and Monsters [1]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Eul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small village, it doesn't rain and Alec wants his life to be worth something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain

It has not rained in weeks.

The villagers have been getting more and more worried by the day as their crops slowly yellowed and withered, small brittle things, a sign of a terrible harvest ahead.

It was when the wells started to dry that Alec’s parents called Alec and Isabelle into their sitting room. Robert’s face was drawn, the wrinkles deep and unforgiving as the harsh sun that refused to give way to rain. Maryse was nowhere to be found, though Alec could hear the faint tremble of his mother’s voice in the kitchens.

“As village leader, we-I can’t ask another family to bear this burden,” Robert says, hardened and emotionless but trails off, as if a dusty rock had lodged itself in his throat.

But he didn’t need to. Alec already knew. Dreads knowing - ignorance is bliss but Alec had always thought he could find a way for his father to love him somewhere hidden in between the lines of a book, but instead he found -

“I’ll do it.” He blurts and desperately hopes saying it once would be enough because he wasn’t brave like Isabelle is.

Robert looks up sharply, eyes steely and for the first time since - _since he realized he could never be the son Robert wanted, never the glory bringer_ \- his father was looking at him, really looking at him without a bitter sting of disappointment. But Alec doesn’t feel vindicated, instead he feels so, _so empty and_ -

Isabelle looks around confused, her head’s been in the clouds ever since a merchant’s ship arrived in town, bringing with him stories and a son their age that adored every sigh that escaped her lips. She would be happy, he knows. That boy thinks she hangs the moon and stars, a goddess in human skin. “Do what? What are you doing Alec?” She grips his hand, but he’s already a thousand miles away and he couldn’t find himself to meet her eyes.

“Meeting a water god.”

☀

It happens the very next day. The villagers laugh for the first time in days, some of them even sing as they carry in trinkets they’ve bought from festivals, little glass beads that shine like diamonds.

They tug him in the softest of fabrics and bind his hands in twine, wrapping so tightly it digs into his bones. He’s led to the docks by the people he’s grown up with - the baker who makes every birthday cake he’s ever tasted, the old fisherman who showed him how to shuck shellfish. He holds Alec’s bound hands in his own, leathery and wrinkled from the years in the ocean sun.

“Thank you,” he murmurs but Alec hears nothing but the sound of his own heart trying to desperately beat out of his ribs, a rush in his ears. It tastes a lot like fear, and he feels a faint brush of shame. 

“Alec!”

_“Alec!”_

_“ALEC!”_ He sees his sister running towards the docks, _“why did you do this?”_ she screams, tries to get to him but the villagers hold her back, family should wait inside until it’s over they say but Isabelle was always the headstrong one and claws against the current that holds her back. _“Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve ran!”_

He doesn’t know what to say, didn’t even expect to see her again but it settles his frantic heart, brings him a sense of calm of _this is what I’m saving, this is what I’m doing this for, my life has a meaning and this is what it’s worth._

He tries to scramble for a response, but all he manages is a “take care of Max,” the _I love you, take care of yourself, please be happy_  is stuck in his throat, burning in the back of his eyes. But as he turns away, he thinks that she knows. _She must_.

The boat they take him to is small, wooden and overflowing with the trinkets, glass beads, and small delicate fragile paper flowers.

He sits among the offerings still as stone and forces himself to remain stoic as people busy themselves around him, putting finishing touches until with one firm push, the boat rocks it’s way into the ocean. He doesn't turn back. 

 

It’s a beautiful day.

 

The sun’s sharp and stinging, the wind caress his face but all he feels is something that erupts from his chest and threatens to spill out of his eyes. He wonders if his father would ever be proud, if his mother will ever mention him to Max when he grows up, if Isabelle would ever forgive him.

 

There’s still so much he hasn’t seen, done, _felt_ , but the boat’s already reached its destination and it’s too late, _was_ too late to feel regret - water is finally seeping in and Alec thinks of all of those before him, chosen by their village because it’s the greater good, one life for hundreds. He wonders if any of them ever chose to do this. If any of them felt this dread dawning upon them like a god's wrath. 

Water flows in ever so faster, and Alec forces himself not to think at all, be nothing at all.

The boat capsizes, overturns until it’s all water, choking, cold, _bitterly sharp raw burns his lungs like fire up is down he’s_ _sinking_ -

_if the world had any gods all then then why_ but the water smothers, blurs and disorients until all he feels thinks is _painpainpain_ he tries to cough, _breathe_ -

he sees the twinkling of glass beads around him, the dimming of sunlight-

he drowns

and wonders

if it would

rain.

****  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a cute music school au where alec plays the violin and has fights with magnus the piano player over the pros n cons of classical pieces featuring conductor sebastian but instead I decided to write this...please excuse bad writing/grammar/etc, I haven't actually written anything in years besides lab reports. I'm not sure when the next part where magnus is supposed to be in (as a SURPRISE! water god) will ever get done so I'm posting this as a part of a series. yeah.
> 
> There's a manhwa called Bride of the Water God which this fic is loosely (REAL LOOSELY) inspired by.


End file.
